After years – decades – perhaps centuries of being laughed at, picked on, and otherwise ridiculed, the 1980s would see the nerds and geeks of the world finally get their day in the sun, as the public’s attitude began to slowly turn from downright mockery, to begrudging acceptance, and eventually, dare it be said, admiration. It was a long and hard fought battle, but the brains of the world would eventually go from outcast to the rulers of the world.

The first cracks in wall that separated nerds from the rest of society came around 1984. Pee Wee Herman showed that a nerd could make us laugh, Thomas Dolby showed that a nerd could musically entertain, and even the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson proved that highwater pants, paired with black shoes and white socks weren’t mock-worthy, but the attire of a mega-star on the rise. Hollywood followed with a collection of films that celebrated the nerds of the world. Movies such as War Games, Weird Science, and Real Genius showed that nerds could not only be loveable but a power to be reckoned with. But perhaps no movie showed the collective power of nerd-dom like Revenge of the Nerds, in which a group of hopeless and helpless underdog nerds joined forces to take on the establishment and emerge victorious. Can’t Buy Me Love and Sixteen Candles continued the trend and exposed nerds as a segment of society long overlooked, long ridiculed, and supremely underestimated.

When it came to fashion, the nerds were the anti-stylish. Their choice in clothing proved that an abundance of brains didn’t necessarily mean and understanding of fashion sense. Opting for functional over stylish, the preferred attire was wash and wear fabrics, plaids shirts, glasses and the often-present pocket protector. For guys holed up in the bedrooms, programming the computers of tomorrow, they paid little attention to trends. They were working on things far more important than looking good for the ladies.

And for their efforts, a surprisingly new vision of nerds began to emerge. What were once considered mere social outcasts were now the rebellious anti-establishment. Films like Hackers and War Games showed a new breed of nerd, one who could hack into businesses and government computer systems with ease, adjust their grade-point averages on a whim, and even start a thermonuclear war from their bedroom. Their mastery of technology earned them a new moniker, that of geek. And perhaps the best known geek to emerge from the bunch was a guy named Bill Gates, who had a dream of putting a computer into the hands of every member of the population. His nerd ways would eventually earn him the title of richest man in the world. The potential of the nerd had been fully realized.

These nerds would emerge as the highly-paid workforce of tomorrow, the techno geeks of the internet, the dot-comers of the future. As each million dollar corporation sprouted on the landscape, it was likely that a nerd was at the helm, and likely behind every desk. And yet, for all of their triumphs, all of their long-fought battles against adversity, they chose to remain loyal to the anti-fashion traditions of their forefathers. Comfort still won out over style every time. While the corporate yuppies of the world wore their three-piece suits every day, briefcase in hand, the techno-geeks showed up in their shorts, tee shirts, jeans and backpacks. And somewhere along the way, their fashion sense – the mussed up hair and glasses and geeky clothes – became the cool fashion choices of a new generation. Take that, corporate sellouts!

Today, the nerd or geek or hacker, as it were, is something to admired – the leaders of a new millennium. Gone are the days of ridicule for the brains of the operation, gone is the mockery of fashion illiteracy. The nerds of the world got tired of being pushed around and decided to take over the world and in their triumph, managed to finally make their mark in the fashion world and society as a whole - in a story of “underdog turns hero” that reads like a Hollywood fairy tale.